BASEBALL AT THE BREAK III: BASEBALL'S RISING SON

No one player, manager or owner got the same amount of
attention as Hideo Nomo on All-Star Monday. In Milwaukee, Dale
Hofmann writes, "You get an idea of the health of the national
pastime when its most promising cure must be imported." Tom
Haudricourt writes, "'Nomomania!' has engulfed major-league
baseball's 66th annual All-Star Game" (MILWAUKEE JOURNAL
SENTINEL, 7/11). In Chicago, Jerome Holtzman notes that
comparisons were made between Nomo in '95 and Ruth after the 1919
Black Sox scandal and whether Nomo is "capable of a similar
rescue" of the game (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 7/11). In Houston, Alex
Truex writes, "His whirling delivery has caused him to be
nicknamed Tornado, but he is a fresh breeze for baseball"
(HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 7/11). In Tampa, Martin Fennelly writes,
"The man to save America's game does not speak English. That is
where we are at" (TAMPA TRIBUNE, 7/11). In L.A., Mike DiGiovanna
writes, "Fernando Valenzuela, Hideo Nomo -- these international
rookie phenomena come along only about once every 15 years, so
you have to take advantage of them" (L.A. TIMES, 7/11). In K.C.,
Jeffrey Flanagan writes, "If there is a responsibility for Hideo
Nomo ... to single-handedly restore interest in baseball, he's
not aware of it" (K.C. STAR, 7/11). N.Y. DAILY NEWS' John
Harper, on the Nomo-Randy Johnson match-up: "For once, it seems,
baseball has done something right" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 7/11). In
Dallas, Gerry Fraley calls tonight's game an "evening of historic
proportions" (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 7/11). In Baltimore, John
Eisenberg writes, "Tonight's start will only add to his growing
legend" (Baltimore SUN, 7/11). In Philadelphia, Jayson Stark
writes, "This is [Nomo's] night. All he has to do is save
baseball" (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 7/11). In New York, Dave
Anderson calls Nomo baseball's "rising sun" amid the post-strike
clouds (N.Y. TIMES, 7/11). N.Y. POST header: "Baseball's Rising
Sun-sation" (N.Y. POST, 7/11). USA TODAY's Beaton & Horovitz:
"Nomomania has swept Major League Baseball" (USA TODAY, 7/11).
In S.F., Joan Ryan writes, "The irony, of course, is that this
All-American game of baseball is counting on this hard-throwing
Japanese import to save it from itself" (S.F. CHRONICLE, 7/11).
BEYOND THE SPORTS PAGES: ABC News profiled Nomo last night.
ABC's Jim Lory "While some Japanese felt betrayed by Nomo's
departure, he has now become an object of national pride.
Everyone loves him" ("World News Tonight," 7/10). Nomo is also
featured in this week's PEOPLE (PEOPLE, 7/10). SIGN OF FUTURE
TIMES? ESPN's "Cover Story" last night examined the diversity of
MLB players. Peter Gammons: "The people who mismanage baseball
just don't understand they're never going to get the kids in
Greenwich, or the valley girls, or the Beavis heads." Gammons
compared players such as Nomo and Cuban Ariel Prieto to "the
refugees who came over on the Mayflower. ... So when Hideo Nomo
takes the mound in Arlington Tuesday, he is a reminder -- that
while baseball may no longer be the national pastime, it will
always be the game of the American heritage" (ESPN, 7/10).